Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.

Archive for March, 2018

My only remaining connection to Venezuela is the arepa index, also called the hyper-inflated arepa index, which was created as a way of keeping tabs on inflation. Boy, little did I know how it would grow!
The arepa cost 385,000 Bs on February 27. This gives a new all time high for the inflation rate since the cost was 225,000 Bs last month, which translates to a 73% per month increase. The previous record was 29% per month calculated at the end of January, which actually was an average over the previous two months. I thank my friend for sending the numbers to me. While he ate the arepa, I did not, we are using the same calculation methodology as before. God save the country with that inflation! But it seems that unless Maduro leaves and the economy is fixed, there can be no saving the country!!